Sefer HaChinuch ספר החינוך

To bless God after eating food: To bless God, may He be blessed, after a man eats and is satiated from bread or from the seven types [of food] that are mentioned in the verse (Deuteronomy 8:8) when he is nourished by them. And a loaf made from wheat or barley is called undifferentiated bread; and included in wheat is spelt, and included in barley is oats and rye. And about the seven types that nourish is it stated (Deuteronomy 8:10), “And you shall eat and be satiated, and you shall bless the Lord, your God, for the good Land, etc.” And this satiation is not the same with every person, but rather every person knows his [own] satiation. And we know the measurement of the satiation of a righteous person is to satiate himself, [by which] I mean to say, only for his sustenance. And the proof that the obligation of the blessing from Torah writ is only after satiation is that which they, may their memory be blessed, said in the chapter [entitled] Mi SheMeto in Berakhot 20b: Rav Avira expounded, etc. until, He said to them, “And shall I not show favor to Israel, as I wrote for them in My Torah, ‘And you shall eat and be satiated, and you shall bless’ (Deuteronomy 8:10); yet they are exacting with themselves even if they have eaten as much as a kazayit (the size of a large olive) or a kabeitsah (the size of a large egg).” And I will still expand [upon] this statement in explaining this verse and the laws that come out of the laws of this commandment, with God’s help. And I will make known the disagreement that exists among our rabbis in its understanding.

From the roots of the commandment, [there is a need to] preface that, have I not told you my son, in what has preceded, that all glory, all majesty, all the good, all wisdom, all power and blessing are of God, blessed be He. And the words of people and all of their deeds — whether good or bad — will not add or subtract [from Him]. Hence you must distinguish that in our always saying in the blessings, “Blessed are You, God,” or [in our saying,] “May He be blessed,” the understanding is not as it seems, to add blessing to the One Who does need any addition, God forbid. As He is the Master over everything and over all the blessing; He renews them and creates them and emanates great abundance from them when His good will is [present] there. Therefore, we must search what is the intention of the matter and not expend our time in that with which we are always involved without any understanding at all. And it is not my thought — I, the one that raises [it] — that my intellect will grasp even like a drop in the ocean of the truth of the matter. As it has already been told to me and I heard from the mouth of sages that there is in these things strong foundations and wonderful secrets — the Torah sages inform their students [of them] when they are understanding and proper and all of their actions are pleasant. But my great will to grasp a little of the reason in this impels me to speak about it. And maybe silence would have been better, but “love spoils [sense of what is proper].”

The matter is known and famous that God, may He be blessed, moves all that exists and created man and put him in control over the earth and over every thing that is in it. And it is from His traits, blessed be He, that He is of much kindness and that He desires the good of His creatures, and [so] He wants them to be fitting and meriting to receive goodness from Him. And this is really from His perfection, may He be blessed. As only one who gives to others besides himself can be called perfect in the good — there is no doubt about this to any intelligent person. And since [we are in] agreement [about] this, that we know that it is obligatory from the perfection of His goodness, that His desire is to pour down His blessing upon us, we shall say that the matter of the blessing that we say in front of Him is only a mention to arouse ourselves through the words of our mouths that He is the blessed One, and the blessed One that contains all of the goodnesses. And through this good arousal of ourselves and the designation of our thoughts to admit to Him that all of the goodnesses are included in Him and He is the King over them, to send them to all that He desires, we merit through this good action to bring from His blessings upon us. And after this mention and this admission in front of Him, we request from Him that which we need [of] knowledge, or the pardon of our iniquities, or healing, or wealth or anything. And so [too,] after the request from Him, we repeat and admit to Him about this, to say that it comes to us from Him. And this is the opening and the conclusion of the blessings. [The reason for the latter is that we not] be considered like a slave who took a reward from his master and goes away without permission, like a thief. And it comes out according to the premise [created by] this reason that “blessed” is an adjective, meaning to say it is an admission to Him that He contains all of the blessings. And [about] the expression, “may He be blessed,” that we always mention — which is [in] the reflexive case — we can say that the intention of it is that we are supplicating to Him that it be His will in front of Him to cause the hearts of His creatures to be prepared in front of Him that all should admit to Him and praise Him. And this is the explanation of “may He be blessed,” meaning to say, “It should be Your will in front of You, that all people of the world will relate all blessing to You and admit that everything in the world emanates from You,” and that His will be completed — as He wants to do good, as we have said. And the fulfillment of the Will is the purpose of all that ask. And behold, we have found an explanation even for the puzzling expression of “may He be blessed.” And from this understanding (other versions: root), that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Chullin 60b) that the Holy One, blessed be He, craves the prayers of the righteous [is] to say that His desire is that they do an act through which they will merit in front of Him and bring down from His goodness upon them; as He is One Who desires to do kindness and to give from His blessing upon them, from the good of His perfection, as is written. And this is the great root to all the good that a man does in this world — that his reward from God [is because] he fulfills His desire, in that He wants the good of the creatures.

And from this root that I have said that the mention of “Blessed be He” is an admission in front of Him about all of the blessings, that they are His, and that there is a need to make an admission to Him about this at the beginning of the request and at the end so that one not be like a slave that took his reward from his master and then left without permission; the differences that our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, fixed for us (Berakhot 11a) in the matter of the blessings — that there are some that open with “Blessed” and also conclude with “Blessed,” there are those that conclude [with it] but do not open [with it] and there are those that open [with it] but do not conclude with it — are established, according to my opinion. How is it? Any blessing in the world — that has a request of something from God, may He be blessed, or the mentioning of a miracle — that is not adjacent to another blessing, opens with “Blessed” and concludes with “Blessed”; for example, “Who creates the light” of the morning prayers and “Who brings the evenings” of the evening prayers; and many like them is from the reason mentioned. But any blessing that is not adjacent to its fellow concludes with “Blessed,” but does not open with “Blessed,” from this reason. As behold, since he acknowlegded and gave governance to God at the end of the blessing that is adjacent to it, and he did not interrupt after this acknowledgment with either a small or big thing, it is not fit to repeat twice the acknowledgment of the acceptance of His mastery at the same time because of the distinction between the requests that we ask in front of Him. But it is fitting to conclude with “Blessed,” since he interrupted with the request of his needs, as it is fit to go back and mention and to give to his heart once again the acceptance of His Kingship and his Mastery over him. And in this way, you will find the explanation for all of them according to my opinion, if you work them out. And those that have one adjacent that leave this framework — such as the blessing of grooms and Kiddush and Havdalah and others — have already been answered for us by our teachers, may God protect them. And the reason they taught us about some of them is that sometimes these blessings are said not with adjacent ones; and our Rabbis did not want to distinguish and say when it comes with adjacent ones, say it this way, and when without adjacent ones, this way. As they always fled from these distinctions in everything that is given over to the hands of the masses, and such is rational.

And any blessing in the world that does not have a request for something from God nor the mention of a miracle for Israel — such as the blessing before food and drink and all pleasures of the body, and so [too,] the blessing of a miracle for an individual — blessings that never have a long text, the matter is known to all who are literate in texts that they all open with “Blessed,” and do not conclude [with it]; it is from the reason mentioned: As since he mentioned the Kingship of God and His Mastery and immediately finished his words, it is not obligatory to repeat the mention of “Blessed” a second time; as it would [otherwise] appear as the repetition of something that is not necessary, which is something that is obvious.

And all blessings that are fixed only for the praise of God, such as one who sees the Great Sea or good trees, and so [too,] one who hears the sound of thunder claps, and the rest of the matters mentioned in the chapter [entitled] Haroeh — some of them open with “Blessed” and do not conclude [with it] and some of them conclude [with it] but do not open [with it]. And it is all from the reason mentioned: as the mention of the Mastery at the beginning or even at the end is apparently sufficient for one who mentions praises; since he does not request something for himself and is not reciting a blessing for a pleasure that he wants to receive. As in truth, it is fitting for one who requests something or wants to benefit, to enlighten the opening of his words and to begin with the mention of His mastery, blessed be He. And this is what they said, that blessings over pleasures open with “Blessed.” And so [too,] blessings over commandments open with “Blessed,” due to the great benefit that God, blessed be He, made us profit [through them].

From the laws of the commandment is that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Berakhot 35a) that even though the Torah only obligated us to recite a blessing after we are satiated from food, the Sages, may their memory be blessed, obligated us to recite a blessing also after any thing from which a person derives pleasure — whether it is from the fruits of the seven species for which the Land is praised or whether it is from any other thing. And they learned the thing from their seeing that the Torah obligates a person to bless God after he is satiated from food that sustains his body with strong sustenance. And they went according to this reason and obligated us to recite a blessing even for anything from which a body eats — whether it is something [that nourishes] or is not something that nourishes — so long as a man derives pleasure from it. And so too, they, may their memory be blessed, obligated us to recite a blessing before eating. And they learned to say this from logic; as it is fitting that a man not benefit from this world without a blessing. [So] metaphorically, they made the blessing like a request for permission from a homeowner to eat from that which is found in his home.

And there are those among our rabbis whose opinion it is that the Torah obligated us to recite a blessing after all of the seven species, such as dates, wine and fig-cakes (see Berakhot 12a) — as it obligated us in truth to recite a blessing after those of them that are nourishing — and said that it was said about all of them, “And you shall eat and be satiated, and you shall bless” (Deuteronomy 8:10). And they also said that satiation from Torah writ is only with [as much as] a kabeitsah; as with this [quantity] the mind of a [hungry] person is put at ease. And I see a bit of proof for their words from that which they said at the beginning of the chapter [entitled] Keitsad (Berakhot 35a), in the give and take which is in the Gemara to find the obligation of blessing from the Torah. It is said over there, “Just as the seven species is something that has benefit and requires a blessing; so too, any item that has benefit, requires a blessing.” It appears from this that there is no distinction in the seven species between those that give nourishment and those that do not, such that there is a Torah obligation for blessing for all of them. But in any event, I saw in Rambam, may his memory be blessed (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Blessings 1:1 and see 3:12 and Kessef Mishneh there), and others are with him, such that it appears to me from their words to say that the central obligation of blessing by Torah writ is only on being satiated in the eating of nourishing food, and not on other species, even if they are from the seven species; such as pomegranates, grapes, fresh figs and olives — since they are not nourishing. As the Torah only obligates on nourishing foods; and because of this, [it] put bread adjacent to the blessing — as it is written (Deuteronomy 8:9), “you shall eat bread in it,” and only afterwards, “And you shall eat and be satiated.” But we shall listen to the great ones in our generation concerning the laws of the Torah.

And after this decision (to follow the great ones of the generation), one who is in doubt if he blessed the blessing abridged from three (me’ein shalosh) after any of the seven species is obligated to recite the blessing because of [the] doubt. And so [too,] if he was in doubt [if he recited] the Grace after Meals; and even if he ate less than enough to satiate, he is obligated to recite the blessing — so long as he ate a kabeitsah. But one who eats a kazayit or more until a kabeitsah and is in doubt if he blessed or not apparently does not have to recite the blessing, as according to everyone, he is not obligated to recite the blessing; as this amount is rabbinic (and a doubt about having fulfilled rabbinic law does not warrant the reciting of a blessing). But according to that which appears to me from the words of the earlier scholars, whenever he has not been satiated from nourishing food, he does not become obligated to recite the blessing because of [the] doubt. And I say that maybe that which we see many from the masses being lenient about the blessing abridged from three, and [yet] no one — even a total ignoramus — being lenient about the Grace after Meals is from the fundamental principle of the earlier scholars. As their opinion was to say that the central command of the Torah only arises upon satiation from nourishing food. And it appears that way from the simple understanding of Scripture [as well]. It comes out with regards to blessings as follows: The commandment of the Torah is only to recite the blessing after nourishing food — and not before it — and, according to the later scholars, also on the seven species mentioned in the Torah.

And all other blessings — all of them — are rabbinic, except for one of them which is from Torah writ; and this is explicit in the Gemara in Berakhot 21a, and that is the blessing over the Torah before it. And Ramban, may his memory be blessed, also counted it as a separate positive commandment (on Sefer HaMitzvot, Positive Commandments 15, where he adds to the count of Rambam). And it appears that the reason for the matter that God, blessed be He, commanded us in the blessing for the reading of the Torah before it and for food after it is because He, blessed be He, would only request for the physical to serve Him and to admit His goodness after it received a reward from Him, since the animal portion will only recognize His good after the feeling [evoked by the reward]. But the reading of the Torah is from the intellectual portion, and the intellect knows and recognizes, and understands the benefit before [it] receives it. Therefore, God obligates us to admit [His goodness] in front of Him, before the reading of the Torah. And one who concedes the truth will find reason in my words.

And after this we will speak more generally about the rabbinic obligation of blessings. And that is: To recite a blessing before eating and drinking of anything that has any [good] taste to the palate — and so too, afterwards. And so [too,] they obligated us to recite a blessing over every good smell that we smell before smelling, but not after it. And the general principle of the thing is that they fixed a blessing on everything from which the body derives pleasure. And so [too,] did they obligate us (Pesachim 7b) to bless God and to admit [His goodness] over all the good that He has granted us in our doing His precious commandments. And they said that we recite a blessing over them before performing them. And the matter, according to my opinion, is like the reason mentioned previously about the reading of the Torah. And so [too,] they obligated us to recite blessings in praise of the Creator over His very mighty deeds, as is mentioned in the chapter [entitled] Haroeh (Berakhot 54a).

And Ezra and his court fixed the wording of all of the blessings (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Blessings 1:5). And even though they, may their memory be blessed, said (Berakhot 48b), “Moshe established the blessing of nourishment, Yehoshua the blessing over the Land,” they [only] said this about the essence of the matter. But Ezra and his court fixed the wording of all the blessings. And it is not fitting to add or subtract from their wording; and anyone who makes a change in them is simply mistaken. And nonetheless, ex post facto, we do not make someone who made a change or forgot a little of the wording of the blessing go back [and repeat it], so long as he mentioned its essential meaning and said the conclusion as established. And they, may their memory be blessed, said (Sotah 32a) that the blessings — besides the mention of [God’s] name and the Kingdom of the Heavens — can be said in any language.

And they, may their memory be blessed, obligated us (Shabbat 24a) to mention the holiness of the day in the Grace after Meals, meaning to say the matter of Shabbat or holidays, as is known. And on the days that a person is obligated to eat [a meal] regardless, we make one that forgot and did not mention it in the blessing go back; and these are the two obligatory meals, which are the first night of Pesach and the first night of the holiday of Sukkot. And the opinion of some commentators is that we also make him go back on every Shabbat and every holiday.

And I will write to you, my son, still a bit more about the laws of the blessings of the meal. And [I shall do so] even though we have spoken at great length about this commandment due to my fervor for blessing, though my way is not like this in this work in other places. Every Israelite must wash his hands with proper water before eating bread — meaning to say [this water] was not disqualified from the drinking of a dog and no work was done with it, and for one washing, its quantity is a quarter of a log, which is one-and-a-half eggs. And at the very least, one needs to wash to the joint at the end of the fingers for the eating of bread. And he should recite the blessing, “Blessed are You, Lord, King of the Universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us about the washing of the hands.” And he recites the blessing over the eating of bread at the beginning, “Blessed are You, Lord, King of the Universe, Who brings out bread from the earth.” And if he ate a kazayit of it, he recites the four well-known blessings at the end — “Who nourishes,” the blessing over the Land, “Who builds Jerusalem” and “The One Who is good and does good,” which they established in Yavneh.

And from when he began to recite the blessing over the bread, the blessing over bread exempts anything that comes during the meal, [from blessing] before and after it — whether they are things that nourish, such as the many cooked foods that people make from the five grains, or whether they are all other types of fruits in the world — anything that a person eats to satiate his hunger, to fill his stomach. [And this is the case] whether he eats these things in the middle of his meal or whether after he finishes eating his bread. And so [too] is the law if these things do not come to satiate him but to accompany the bread — the blessing over the bread exempts them before and after [their eating]. And if they come in the middle of the meal neither to satiate nor to accompany the bread, but just as a delight: If it is something that nourishes, such as a cooked food of the five grains, the blessing over the bread exempts it [from a blessing], both before and after [eating]. But if it is something that does not nourish and it comes as an enjoyment in the middle of the food, such as fruits that people eat as an enjoyment in the middle of the food, he recites a blessing [upon them] before them, but not after them; and included in this enjoyment is one who eats salted olives and similar things in the middle of the meal as an a appetizer for the food. Hence he recites a blessing before it, but not after it. Even though dates are fruits, their law is that of nourishing food and [so] the blessing over bread exempts them, both before and after.

[If] many types of fruit were brought in front of him: If their blessings are the same — for example, if all of them are of “the tree” — he recites the blessing over the one that is [most] beloved to him, and afterwards he eats all of the rest without a blessing. And if none of them are more beloved to him than the rest — if there are from the seven fruits listed in the Torah to praise the Land of Israel among them, he blesses over the one that is earliest in the verse first, and all of [the rest] are exempt from a blessing. But if their blessings are not the same — for example, [some are in the category of] “fruit of the tree,” and [some are in the category of] “fruit of the ground” — he recites a blessing for each and every one; and he has that which is [more] beloved to him precede, meaning to say the one that he wants to eat first. And if there is none there that is more beloved to him than its fellow, he has the one that is more important in its blessing precede. And that would be “fruit of the tree,” since the blessing is more specific to it than “fruit of the earth,” which includes everything in the earth (including trees). Wine is not included in bread at all and the blessing over bread does not exempt it [from a blessing] (Berakhot 41b). [Rather] it is in the way of a beverage, and [so] we recite a blessing upon it even if it comes in the middle of food. And the Sages, may their memory be blessed, further established another blessing over wine (Berakhot 59b), when [people] bring a second wine in the middle of the meal or after the meal, besides the one they brought at the beginning — and that is “the One Who is good and does good” — and that is if there are two or more eating. And [the blessing over] wine that is before food exempts all wine that comes after it — whether in the middle of the meal or whether after it (Berakhot 42a). But wine that is in the middle of the food does not exempt [one] from [reciting] a blessing [before] wine that is [consumed] after the food. But from the blessing [after it], Grace after Meals exempts everything; as wine is included in [nourishing] food, since it also nourishes and brings joy.

Final waters (to wash hands at the end of the meal) are an obligation. And it needs to be cold water and it must fall into a vessel or into anything that separates between it and the ground, such as shavings and that which is similar to them. And one who did not eat anything [messy] and did not touch salt during the meal does not require it.

A person must mention the holiness of the day on Shabbat and holidays in the third blessing, like we said. And if he did not mention it and he began “The One Who is good and does good,” he goes back to the beginning (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Blessings 2:12). If he did not begin it but he did finish the third blessing, he says this formula on Shabbat: “Blessed are You, Lord, our God, King of the Universe, Who has given Shabbat rest to His people, Israel, as a sign and a covenant. Blessed are You, Lord, Who sanctifies the Shabbat.” And if it is a holiday, we say, “Blessed are You, Lord, our God, King of the Universe, Who has given holidays to His people, Israel, for happiness and joy. Blessed are You, Lord, Who sanctifies Israel and the times.” And so [too,] Rosh Chodesh (the first day of the month), the intermediate festival days, Channukah and Purim have a mention in the Grace after Meals in the third blessing. But if he forgot [in these cases] and concluded the blessing, we do not make him go back, and we do not mention [the holiday] at all. I have received as a tradition from my teachers, may God protect them, that any one who is careful about Grace after Meals will have his food available with dignity all of his days. [These] and the rest of its details are elucidated in Tractate Berakhot. (See Tur, Orach Chaim 188.)

And this commandment is practiced by Torah writ in every place and at all times by males. And by females, it is a doubt among our Rabbis whether they are obligated by Torah writ or not. And a man that transgresses this and eats [nourishing] food but does not recite a blessing after it has nullified this positive commandment. And a woman who transgressed and did not recite a blessing has violated a rabbinic commandment, and maybe a Torah commandment. And so [too,] anyone who read Torah in the morning before he recited the blessings that were fixed over the Torah or the blessing “Everlasting love” (which serves a substitute) has violated a Torah commandment. And therefore one who forgot if he recited the blessing over the Torah in the morning or not goes back and recites the blessing. And one who transgressed and did not recite any of the other blessings in the world besides the ones we mentioned has only violated a commandment of the Sages, but “one who breaches a fence will be bitten by a snake” (Ecclesiastes 10:8). And He, may He be blessed, warned about it, “measure for measure.” And one must be very careful from mentioning a blessing in vain; since there is a severe punishment in the matter, as he mentions the name of [God] for no reason. And the Sages associated (Berakhot 33a) the thing with the negative commandment of “You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain.” And come and see how careful the early generations were with this, as behold, Shimshon the Nazirite of God married a Philistine woman that he loved in the stream of Sorek. And [yet] he was so careful in mentioning the name of God, not to mention it at all — whether it was necessary or not necessary — that Delilah recognized that he told her everything [in] his heart, by his mentioning God in his words, when he said to her (Judges 16:17), “because I am a nazirite of God” — and as it is written after it (Judges 16:18), “And she saw that he had told her everything that was [in] his heart.” And they, may their memory be blessed, said (Sotah 9b), “And from where did she know?” And there were those of them that [answered that] words of truth are recognizable, and some of them that said [it was] because Shimshon mentioned God among his words — and even though he did not say it by way of an oath, but by way of a narrative.